I’m glad that’s over.

I went into this novel expecting a lush, exciting fantasy, and that’s exactly what I didn’t get. I won’t lie: I was majorly disappointed by nearly everything regarding this novel.

First of all, this easily could’ve been 100 pages shorter. There’s slow pacing and then there’s this. Nothing happened for a good chunk of the story, and when things did happen the pacing was all off. We’re thrust right into the beginning of the story, but then it dies down and nothing really happens for about 225 pages. At that point, everything happens, it gets confusing, and the end is honestly just a blur.

On that note, I was bored. I considered dnfing several times, but I became determined to push through. I skimmed the last 50-60 pages, and I never skim books unless they’re assigned for school. I feel like the premise set me up for one thing and I got something totally different. The events that took place seemed mainly trivial, not like they played a part in a bigger story. I guess the overarching plot could be the malevolent forest trying to consume everything, but to be honest, it sounds cooler than it is. It’s not entertaining in the least.

I figured there would be a romance of some sort, because most books have one. However, this one really took me by surprise because it’s just so random. There was no build-up. There were no hints. The Dragon seemed to despise Agnieszka, and then they were kissing. I’m not joking.

“‘You intolerable lunatic,’ he snarled at me, and then he caught my face between his hands and kissed me.”

WHAT??

They nearly have sex but they don’t. Then they’re apart for 150 pages or so, and on their first night in the same location, they have sex. I’m so confused. There was no tension, no development, just boom! In my face. A relationship. And then they’re distant again until the very end, but I’ll leave it at that for the sake of not spoiling anyone.

Another thing I found disappointing is that the Dragon isn’t actually a dragon. He’s a wizard with an alias, a stage name if you will, and he can’t even shapeshift. He’s just a grumpy old man in a young man’s body and he has magical abilities. Dragons are fantasy icons, and yet I haven’t read many fantasy books with actual dragons. Justice for dragons 2018.

The last thing I have to say isn’t a complaint necessarily, just something about the writing style I found strange. Naomi uses a lot of colons, something I haven’t seen before. To my knowledge, colons are mainly used after a clause and before a list. Maybe there’s more to it; I’m not going to google at 1 am. I just think it’s odd. I didn’t think the colons had any place being where they were, but they were used nonetheless. Sometimes it felt like they were used to make run-on sentences okay, if that makes sense. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a thing writers do that I’m unfamiliar with.

I could probably say more, but I’m tired. I powered through the rest of the book, and as I said, it’s 1 am. Besides, I think you can tell I wasn’t a fan of this book. It could’ve been good. I wanted it to be good. It just wasn’t good, in my opinion. Take out the romance, add in a dragon or two, and then maybe we’ll talk. Until then, no. Just no.